The Forest Lake city council on Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, approved a reorganization plan that eliminates 15 city jobs and creates 15 new ones. Employees and labor union representatives crowded the board room to protest the plan, many holding signs blasting city administrator Aaron Parrish who presented the plan. (Photo by Elizabeth Mohr)

Fifteen Forest Lake city employees will have to reapply to keep their jobs, some with the added requirement of training to become firefighters and moving to new homes.

The city council on Monday approved a staffing reorganization that eliminates 15 positions and creates 15 new ones, despite outcry from employees and labor union representatives who crowded the boardroom for the meeting.

City officials said the plan creates a staffing structure that is better aligned with the city’s strategic goals and more focused on important areas: public safety, economic development and parks. One major goal was to improve daytime fire response times by requiring some city employees also to serve as on-call firefighters. Specifically, the building official, building inspector and two custodians would act as dual-role employees.

Many other positions are being eliminated and replaced with similar jobs that come with lower salaries.

The plan is expected to save the city about $155,000, or about 2 percent of what it spends annually on employees.

Some who attended Monday’s meeting held signs blasting city administrator Aaron Parrish, who created and presented the reorganization proposal.

During the open forum portion of the meeting — before the council voted on the plan — 12 people spoke.

Some speakers scolded the council. Some questioned the transparency of the planning process. Some urged reconsideration. And others pleaded with city officials to allow employees to be part of the planning.

Tim Okan, a 59-year-old building inspector who has worked for the city for 10 years, is one of those employees whose job will become a dual position.

“The city administrator is telling middle-aged workers that we will have to move and do double-duty as firefighters if we want to keep our jobs,” Okan told the council. “It feels like the city administrator is trying to dump older workers who have dedicated their lives to Forest Lake.”

Dan Haider, a retired Minnesota state trooper and a part-time city worker, said, “I’m embarrassed at how these people are being treated.”

Resident Joan Steffen Baker said, “This whole plan is insane.”

Resident Mike Clemmens said, “You’re screwing with the lives of people here who have many, many years of knowledge.”

Mark Pothen, a representative of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, asked the council if a resident survey or city comparison had been done, and if so, what were the results?

“It appears this reorganization, the process, was done clandestinely,” Pothen said. “If the city is proposing to fire 15 people, then hire 15 people under new titles and with lower salaries, it appears to be an across-the-board pay cut. All the while, the city administrator has received a substantial pay increase.”

According to city records, when Parrish was hired in 2011, his salary was about $107,000. His salary in 2012 was $117,000, and this year is $124,000. It’s scheduled to be $133,000 for 2014 and $143,000 for 2015. He receives the same benefits package as all other employees.

Before he presented his plan to the council, Parrish acknowledged the public feedback and said he understood the emotional response. He called the proposed staffing “an acknowledgement of contemporary problems.”

Forest Lake has a volunteer fire department and, like many cities, recently has struggled to recruit volunteers.

“We have to do something,” Fire Chief Gary Sigfrinius said during the meeting. “This plan is not the fire department’s plan. We have a need. It will fix our problem, but it’s not our plan.”

He said other cities have faced similar challenges, and that most options — such as hiring full-time firefighters — cost money.

The council approved the reorganization and authorized its first phase, which includes eliminating five positions, one of which is currently vacant. The four employees whose jobs will be converted to dual-role firefighter positions range in age from 47 to 62, according to a representative of their union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

After the meeting, Okan, who is also a local AFSCME leader, said he was disappointed in the council’s decision. He’s not sure what will happen next. He had been hoping to be promoted to building official when his supervisor retired earlier this month.

“I’ll probably have to find a new job,” Okan said. “I’m 59 years old. I got out of construction because of my back. I’m not going to be able to pass the agility test to become a firefighter. I was hoping to retire at 65, maybe 62.”

He would also have to move from his home in North Branch because being an on-call firefighter requires living within a certain range of the city core.

Okan is considering filing a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

AFSCME spokeswoman Jennifer Munt said Tuesday that the union is working to determine if and when such complaints can be filed.

“It appears that asking middle-aged workers to become firefighters could be a way of asking older workers to leave the workforce,” she said. “There are many cities where reorganization is necessary, and it is wise to realign your staff with new priorities. But what is different about Forest Lake is that they have not gauged their workers or their residents in shaping the reorganization plan.

“What’s really extraordinary about this plan is that the city administrator created it in secrecy. If he had consulted with the community development director, with the fire chief and the workers who actually do the work, they could have come up with a plan that saved the $155,000 without the layoffs.”

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

Drivers along Ayd Mill Road in St. Paul call it one of the most pockmarked roadways in town. Winter melt, age, traffic intensity, deferred maintenance and questionable construction all have taken their toll. St. Paul city officials are continually grappling with the challenge of funding road repair for a growing residential and business population. Outsiders sometimes make unfair comparisons to...

St. Paul Saints general manager Derek Sharrer's stomach was doing backflips as he watched No. 16 seed Maryland-Baltimore County beat No. 1 overall seed Virginia. The team he’s in charge of was about to be out $10,000.

A marker on the Hillcrest Golf Course proclaims the Hillcrest Knoll to be Ramsey County's highest hilltop, though folks in Arden Hills and Shoreview might dispute it. Soon, the 1920s-era golf course may have another claim to fame -- housing, and lots of it. At Larpenteur Avenue and McKnight Road on the city's Greater East Side, Hillcrest represents 112 acres...